Monday, July 30, 2012

APTA Moves Forward With Development of Clinical Practice Guidelines

As part of APTA's strategic objective to reduce unwarranted variation in care, 32 association members representing 11 sections participated in a clinical practice guidelines (CPG) workshop on July 25-27 with the goal of developing a process to successfully complete and publish CPG. Joe Godges, PT, DPT, MA, OCS, and Sandra Kaplan, PT, PhD, facilitated the workshop, which included a presentation of a CPG development methodology and interactive discussion on how to apply the methodology to successfully develop CPG for the physical therapist profession.

Workshop participates were chosen following a call to sections in April to submit nominations for a guideline lead and, if indicated, key team member(s) who had defined a key clinical question or topic they would like to address with CPG. Through the call, 13 topics were identified for CPG. They include falls, deep vein thrombosis, vestibular neuritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, lymphedema and pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and determining a review process for the current Orthopaedic Section guidelines.

CPG development is part of APTA's evidence-based documents initiative, which stems from motions from APTA's Board of Directors. The initiative aims to provide structure, process, and resources for the development of evidence-based documents that facilitate the translation of research findings into physical therapist practice. In addition to CPG, the initiative supports the development of position statements, clinical summaries, technical summaries, critical appraisal summaries, and guidance statements.

Comments

So, will the information collected be on the PTNow page? I wonder how this information will be disseminated? I believe the plan is for this to go to members as well as non-members to reduce unwarranted variations in practice across the scope and breadth of physical therapy.

Posted by Beth Ward, PT, DPT
on 7/31/2012 7:48 AM

PTNow, which is being developed to help reduce unwarranted variation in practice and to improve patient care, will be a likely home for many of these resources. PTNow is still in beta development. Moving forward, the PTNow Editorial Board will review materials produced as part of APTA's evidence-based documents initiative and incorporate them into the site as appropriate.